Curt Riess was a Jewish Berlin journalist who fled to the USA in 1936. He was a noted war correspondent and returned to Germany in 1945 to witness the collapse of the Third Reich. Towards the end of 1945 he worked day and night on this biography, and a year later was able to benefit from the discovery of the Goebbels diaries, which were edited by his friend Louis Lochner.

Riess said to Lochner ‘Goebbels to me is the most outstanding man of the Nazi regime, not even barring Adolf Hitler himself’. Riess rendered a real service by meticulously putting together, in a readable and graphic way, the story of one of the most fascinating, albeit vilest, characters of the twentieth century. Goebbels is bound to have his permanent place in history, even as Mephisto has his in mythology.

THE AUTHOR

Curt Riess, (1903-1993), was a Jewish refugee who fled from Nazi Germany for the USA in 1936. He was a notable journalist and author and returned as an American war correspondent to record the demise of Hitler's Third Reich. Comfortable in English and German, he became a prolific trans-Atlantic author in both languages, producing a stream of newspaper and magazine articles, novels, biographies, screenplays and plays. A former Berlin journalist, Curt Riess drew attention in the United States in the 1930's and during World War II with his books and widely syndicated reporting about Hitler's Germany. His book The Nazis Go Underground (also to be published by Fonthill) described German espionage and what designs Hitler's associates might have for overseas after a defeat.